Treating rods and wire



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TREATING RODS AND WIRE Filed Sept. 16, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Oct. 31, 1933 TREATING, RODS AND WIRE James S. Phifer, Allentown, Pa., assignor to The American Steel and Wire Company of New Jersey, a corporation of New Jersey Application September 16, 1931 Serial No. 563,175

/ 9 Claims." (01. 205-1) v This invention relates to apparatus for cleaning and preparing rods and wire hereinafter called rods or wire rods for wire drawingoperations which embody the step of pickling the rod in acid to remove its scale, rinsing the rod to wash ofi the acid, sulling the rod by the application of a fine spray, submersing it in lime and subsequently baking the lime coating on the rod.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide separate chambers for pickling, for sulling and coating with lime and for baking the wire red and to provide means for handling the rod' in a manner to expedite its passage through the several steps of the treating process in a relatively short period of time with the employment of a minimum amount of labor.

The invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which Figure 1 is a top plan view illustrating the pickling chamber and acid tubs, the rinsing and transfer tank, the separating chamber with the sulling rack and lime tanks, and the baking chamber; Figure 2 a cross-section of Figure 1 taken along the line A-A thereofi Figure 3 a cross-section taken along the lines A, B, C, D of Figure 1; Figure 4 a longitudinal section taken along the line E-E of Figure 1; Figure 5 a longitudinal section taken along the end views, respectively, of a telescopic hoist arm employed in the handling of the wire rod, as will be hereinafter explained.-

As shown in Figures 1 and 2 of-the drawings, a plurality of acid tubs l are mounted in a concrete lined dug-out 2 of a chamber 3 generally designated the pickling chamber and which is divided by a partition 4 from the sulling and dipping chambers. The chamber 3 is provided with a door 38 through which the trucks 14 of rods enter the chamber. Gutters 5 and 6 are provided to carry oif the acid and water accumulating below the tubs. There is a series of acid tubs in a row as shown in Figure 1 andthe wire and which is provided with a roller-chain on line F--F of Figure 1; Figures 6 and 7 side and rod is handled in bundles which are supported which the bundle supporting yokes 7 are placed to carry the rod from the end of the chamber adjacent the rinse tank 9 towards the other end in which is provided a hot lime tub 11, a cold I lime tub 12 and drip racks 13. From the drip racks the wire rod is transferred by means of trucks 14 to the bakingchamber 15 which is provided with a series of heating flues 16 shown in Figures 1 and 2.

As shown in Figures are provided at the ends of the pickling and sulling chambers and forced air circulation 'is set up utilizing the acid and water gutters and the space below the sull rack for ducts to cause a positive circulation of either cold or heated air from the bottom of the chambers to the roof portion thereof in which ventilators 18 are provided as shown in Figure 2. By means of the positive circulation ofair from the bottom of the chambers to the top thereof, the pickling chamber especially is well ventilated and safe for'workmen. Also, by means of the heaters 1'? a substantially constant temperature may be maintained which is advantageous in effecting the tr atment of the wire rod to obtain a uniso form product. The lines 16 of the baking chamber heat the wire rod in a manner to bake the lime coating which has previously been applied in the dip chamber. I

To carry out the proper sequence of pickling, thoroughly rinsing after pickling, and sulling,

dipping and baking of the wire rod, suitable handling or conveying mechanism has been provided to facilitate handling the material and the mechanism is semi-automatic in its operation through a series of limit switches as follows:

The rod is placed on a transfer truck 20, Figure 1, which is operated by a wire rope 21 through a motor-driven mechanism generally designated I at 22. The motor is controlled by a push button master switch 23 and is automatically stopped when the transfer truck reaches the end of its movement in the tank 9 by limit'switches 24;. Similarly, the roller-chain conveyer 10' of the 1 sull rack is rendered operative through a push button master switch 25 and is stopped in its movement by limit switches 26 when the wire rod reaches the position from which it is transferredv to the lime tubs. The roller-chain conveyer lOis operated through av motor drive, generally designated at '27, which may be controlled through a'masterswitch 25 or a switch 28 located at the discharge portion of the sull rack. The

Wire rod is transferred from the acidtubs to n 1 and 5, heater units 17 65 supporting yokes.

the transfer truck 20 by the overhead crane 8 and is similarly handled in its passage from the rinse tank to the sull rack, and in-the lime dipping operations by the overhead crane 8. After the wire rod is placed on the truck 14 to transfer it to the baking chamber, a door 30 is raised and the truck is pushed from the dipping chamber to the baking chamber by means of the overhead crane, and the door 30 is or may be lowered to its closing position.

To facilitate handling of the wire rod the overhead crane is provided with a telescopic arm 31 which fits into a guide 32 that is mounted on trunnions on the crane trolley, the arm 31 and guide being of rectangular form to prevent swivel movement of the hook which is a double hook 33 fastened to the end of the arm 31. To permit swinging movement of the hook 33 it is mounted in a manner to be moved angularly about an axis passing transversely of the hook members and is held in its normal position by balls 34 which are yieldingly urged by coil springs 35. The arm 31 is raised and lowered through the regular hoisting mechanism which consists of a wire rope or chain 36 operated by themotor-driven hoist drum 3'7. By utilizing the stiff telescoping arm the wire rod bundles are maintained in proper alinement at all times as they are not free to swivel and the hooks 33 are always in proper alinement or position to engage the rod Furthermore, the stiff arm may be employed to push the trucks 14., when conveying them from the dipping chamber to the baking chamber.

The operation of the apparatus is briefly as follows:

The wire rod bundles to be pickled enter the pickling chamber on trucks 14 through the door 38 and are mounted on the yoke '7 (see Figures 1 and 5) and are placed in the acid tubs of the pickling'chamber in the position shown in Figure 1 of the drawings. After the rodshave been pickled for a sufiicient length of time to remove I the scale they are removed by means of the over- .head crane 8 and lowered on the transfer truck 20 of the rinsing tank 9. The transfer truck is then conveyed from the end of the tank 9 in the pickling chamber to the opposite end of the tank which, isin the sulling chamber, and while so conveyed the wire rod is submersed in water and thoroughly rinsed to be free of acid. The transfer truck is actuated by pushing the master switch 23 and automatically comes to a stop when it strikes the limit switch 24.

The overhead crane 8 of the sulling and dipping chambers removes the yoke holding the wire rod from the transfer truck of the rinsing tank and places it on the roller-chain 10 of the sull rack on which it is conveyed to the lime tubs while being subjected to the sulling process.

Each yoke, as it reaches the end of the sull rack, operates the limit switch 26 and stops the motor which is controlled through the master switch 28 and the yokes and their bundles are removed by crane 8 and dipped in lime tubs 11 or 12 and wise remain on the yokes and serve to neutralize a considerable amount of the acid of the pickling bath.

By means of the foregoing arrangement, the pickling, sulling and dipping, and the baking of the wire rod are conducted in separate chambers isolated from each other, thereby preventing the corrosive acids from contacting with all of the apparatus of the treating chambers and also permitting positive ventilation in the pickling chamber to remove the acid fumes which are otherwise detrimental to the workmen.

The isolation of the pickling, sulling and dipping chambers is. made positive by means of the submerged transfer truck and the rinse tank which extends across both chambers and which is the only means of communication between the 10 chambers, so that no opening or door is required which would permit the escape of acid fumes.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising,

a pickling chamber, a sulling and lime dipping chamber atmospherically separated from said pickling chamber, and means for conveying the wire rod from said pickling to said sulling and lime dipping chamber while submerged in rinsing water.

2. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising, a pickling chamber, a sulling and lime dipping chamber atmospherically separated from said pickling chamber, a rinsing tank communicating with said chambers-,"and means for conveying the wire rod from said pickling to said sulling and lime dipping chamber, while submerged in'said rinsing tank.

3. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising,

a pickling-chamber, a plurality of acid tubs in said chamber, a rinsing tank at one end of said chamber, means for transferring the wire rods from said tubs to the rinsing tank, means for conveying said wire rod while submerged in said tank to a sulling and dipping chamber, a sulling rack and means for-conveying the wire rod on said rack and means within said last named chamber for dipping said rod in a lime tank, said rinsing tank providing a water seal for atmospherically separating said pickling chamber and said sulling and lime dipping chamber.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 provided with means for circulating cold or heated air from the bottom to the top of said chambers along substantially the entire length of said chambers.

5. Apparatus for treating wire rod, comprising a pickling chamber, a plurality of acid tubs in 6. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising a pickling chamber, a sulling and lime dipping chamber, a rinsing tank communicating between and atmospherically separating said chambers, a baking chamber communicating with said sulling and lime dipping chamber, and means for conveying the wire through all of said chambers and said rinsing tank.

7. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising a pickling chamber, a sulling and lime dipping chamber, a rinsing tank communicating between and atmospherically separating said chambers, a baking chamber communicating with said sulling and lime dipping chamber, a support for said wire rod, means for conveying said support and wire rod through each of said chambers and said rinsing tank, said conveying means returning said support from said baking chamber to said first named chamber through said rinsing tank.

8. The method of treating wire rod including assembling a plurality of bundles of wire rod on a support, immersing said assembled bundles of rod in a pickling solution, washing said assembled rods, successively sulling, lime coating and baking said assen'ibled rods, removing the baked rods from the support and returning said support to its starting position, and washing said support during its return movement to remove accumulated lime deposits.

9. Apparatus for treating wire rod comprising a pickling chamber, a sulling and dipping chamber separated from said first named chamber, a tank communicating with each of said chambers and extending below their respective lower limits, conveying means in said tank, and means for automatically stopping said conveying means when it reaches the ends of said tank in its conveying movements.

JAMES S. PHIFER. 

